College Takes

College Takes provides a platform for young people to express their concerns about democracy, advocate for reform, and hone their writing skills. The views expressed by authors are their own and do not reflect the views of DODO (which does not advocate for any specific reform).

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The state of South Australia, one of Australia’s six states, elects its state legislature every four years on the third Saturday in March. The most recent election was this past weekend (March 21, 2026), returning the incumbent political party into power in a landslide with at least 72% of seats in the lower house from around 38% of voters' first preferences. 1 The process of voting in Australia looks very different to voting in the United States: Registration is mandatory, voting is required, ranked choice voting with full preferential voting is used, and elections are on a Saturday. In this edition of College Takes, South Australian university student, Jameson Henderson-Redden, provides a first-hand account of the experience of voting in his home state and argues that the United States should consider adopting weekend elections.

Election Day as a Shared Celebration: Weekend Elections Could Strengthen U.S. Democracy (and make Election Day more fun).

Jameson Henderson-Redden

March 25, 2026

Hello once again! I’m Jameson Henderson-Redden, an Australian university student who recently published a College Takes arguing that the U.S should implement full preferential voting, a system of voting used in Australia that requires voters to rank all candidates on the ballot from most to least preferred. To provide more context on Australian elections, I’ve written this blog about my experience voting in South Australia last weekend.

The Legal Framework of Australian Elections

Mandatory registration, voting, and ranking

In all state and national Australian elections, both registering to vote and voting in each election is mandatory.2 All Australian citizens must register to vote and must vote in every state and federal election or risk receiving a fine. Legally mandating voting increases voter turnout. While comparing voter turnout between countries is tricky,3 the best data we have shows that between 86% to 89% of eligible Australians vote in each federal election compared to approximately 65% of the estimated American citizen voting age population for the 2024 Presidential Election. In the United States, advocates of mandatory voting argue that mandatory voting would increase political representation and encourage political moderation as candidates need to appeal to a broader number of people. Opponents argue that mandatory voting is likely unconstitutional and an infringement of liberties including freedom from compelled speech.

Most Australian state and federal elections voters use full preferential voting (FPV), meaning voters must rank all candidates for each office from most to least preferred. For example, if four candidates are running in a district, a voter is required to rank all four in order of preference to cast a valid ballot: Their most preferred candidate first, a second choice, a third choice, and a least preferred candidate. See my blog on why the U.S should implement FPV for more information on how FPV works.

Weekend elections

All elections, local, state and federal, must be held on a Saturday in Australia. While the sitting prime minister chooses which Saturday an election happens,4 the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 states that “the day fixed for the polling shall be a Saturday.” South Australia’s constitution fixes Election Day on the third Saturday in March every four years. In my view, weekend elections increase participation and encourages Australians to view participating in the democratic process as a celebration.

A South Australian Polling Place (2026 South Australian State Election).

Celebrating Election Day: The Democracy Sausage

It is a decades-old tradition in Australia to eat “democracy sausages” on Election Day. Democracy sausages are a type of grilled Australian sausage served white bread with a healthy serving of ketchup, mustard, and onions (if you are feeling ambitious). They are served outside almost all polling booths in Australia at democracy “sausage sizzle” stalls run by a local veterans’ groups, community groups, schools, or charities.

A Democracy Sausage Sizzle Stand

A delicious Democracy Sausage!

Purchased after voting, democracy sausages are seen as a celebratory treat after contributing as a voter. Here is me with my democracy sausages in the most recent South Australian state election.

After consuming one (or two or three) democracy sausages, many Australians enjoy a few drinks at home and watch the election coverage on the news that night, eager to see who has won.

Learning from Australian Elections

In addition to considering more significant electoral reforms, such as FPV and mandatory voting, Americans should also look closely at changing when elections are held. Moving elections from Tuesdays to weekends could allow more Americans to vote,5 help to increase voter turnout, and also reinvigorate the idea that elections are a shared civic event, rather than a private decision or an inconvenience.

Ultimately, by learning from electoral systems like Australia’s, the United States has an opportunity to increase participation, improve representation, and reinvigorate its democratic culture. Even small changes as simple as the day of an election could make voting feel less like a burden and more like a shared national celebration.

"Moving elections from Tuesdays to weekends could allow more Americans to vote, help to increase voter turnout, and also reinvigorate the idea that elections are a shared civic event."

Editor's Footnotes

These notes provide additional context and links to studies and DODO content to help readers engage with and evaluate the ideas presented.

As of publishing, votes are still being counted. The data on votes-to-seats outcomes (72% of seats from 38% of votes) is for voters' "first preferences" (i.e. the candidate they rank first). In the context of full preferential voting (FPV), it is routine in Australia to report party votes-to-seats outcomes in terms of the "two-party preferred" vote, which involves identifying the two largest and oldest political parties (the Liberal Party and the Australian Labor Party) and identifying the proportions of voters who ranked each above the other. In the 2026 South Australian election, calculating the two-party preferred vote is less useful because one of the usual two major parties (the Liberal Party) received fewer first choices (about 19) than a minor party (One Nation). As is one of the central characteristics of FPV, FPV served to direct voter preferences to the major political parties, ensuring both Liberal and Labor parties received outsized shares of seats compared to other parties.
It is well established that mandatory voting laws in Australia (except for the South Australian law) require voters to attend the polls, check in, have their name checked off on the register, and place their ballot in the ballot box. These requirements hold even if they detest all the candidates on the ballot and do not wish to vote for any (Judd v McKeon (1926) 38 Commonwealth Law Reports 380). Both the Australian Electoral Commission (in 2006) and Australian courts have suggested intentionally casting a spoiled ballot, known as an "informal" ballot in Australia, is illegal (O’Brien v Warden (1981) 37 Australian Capital Territory Reports 13). South Australia's mandatory voting law, passed in 1941, is the only one in Australia that specifically allows for casting a blank ballot. Read our Mandatory Voting 101 for more.
Comparing voter turnout across countries is difficult. It is important to use measures with both comparable numerators and denominators. In the popular literature, it is commonplace to compare a turnout figure with the a large denominator ("voting age population" or "voting eligible population") in the United States against the figure with the smallest denominator in Australia ("registered" or "enrolled" voters). For example, the Pulitzer Center cited in the blog above compares turnout in Australian elections in terms of enrolled voters against U.S. turnout of voting eligible population. This presents a false comparison, with voter turnout in the U.S. artificially lowered compared to Australia. For more about voter turnout and comparing turnout across countries, see our Voter Turnout 101.
All states (except Tasmania) have adopted fixed election dates. Federal election dates are chosen, subject to rules (for example, elections must occur on a Saturday at least every 3 years), by the Australian Prime Minister (and writs are formally issued by the Governor General).
The claim that more voters can vote on Saturday compared to a Tuesday is not proven. Especially in United States (where there are fewer business closures on the weekend than there are in Australia), weekend elections may serve to exacerbate inequities of access to voting (making it easier for middle class office workers to vote, while maintaining the status quo for service and agricultural workers). DODO is not aware of many significant studies on the topic, although the U.S. Government Accountability Office explored the issue in 2012.